Help Topics

1.   What information does miRCancer provides?
2.   What can miRCancer do?
3.   Can the data be downloaded?
4.   How often is the database updated?
5.   What does the "Family/Cluster" column in miRCancer search page mean?
6.   Why are there multiple names for some cancers, such as lung carcinoma and lung cancer, while others only have one?
7.   Why I couldn't find some published miRNA-Cancer relation in miRCancer?
8.   What's the benefit to subscribe to miRCancer mailing list?
9.   How do I subscribe to miRCancer mailing list?
10. Can I unsubscribe to miRCancer mailing list?
11. Do you plan to provide more sequence analysis tools?

1. What information does miRCancer provides?
miRCancer provides comprehensive collection of microRNA expression profiles in human cancers. All miRNA-cancer relationships are manually verified.

2. What can miRCancer do?
With miRCancer, you can:
· look for microRNA-cancer associations mentioned in published papers by: microRNA name and/or cancer name;
· browse all microRNAs related to various kinds of cancers;
· run clustering analysis on selected microRNA sequences;
· run Chi-square analysis on selected microRNA sequences.

3.Can the data be downloaded?
Yes. To download the latest database, please send request through email. The previouse updates can be downloaded here. For other download please contact Boya Xie at boya.xie@alumni.ecu.edu or Dr. Ding at dingq@ecu.edu for inquiry.

The database is regularly updated, please subscribe to the miRCancer mailing list to get update notification.

4.How often is the database updated?
We try to update the database as frequently as we can. Currently miRCancer is updated quarterly with data from miRBase and publications from PubMed.

5.What does the "Family/Cluster" column in miRCancer search page mean?
The "Family/Cluster" column shows the gene family or cluster to which a microRNA belongs. microRNAs from the same gene family or cluster usually are homologous in structure or function. Thus experiments sometimes are carried out over a family/cluster of microRNAs rather than individuals. Although the individual microRNA name is listed against a cancer in our search result, it's possible that only the family/cluster name is mentioned in the publication.

miRCancer currently contains 564 (as of November 25, 2012) families/clusters, not all of which have records that are related to cancers.

6.Why are there multiple names for some cancers, such as lung carcinoma and lung cancer, while others only have one?
Cancer and carcinoma are different by definition.

· Cancer, is the general disease name which refers to abnormal cells divide without control and can invade to neighbor tissues. It is also called maglignant tumor.

· Carcinoma, is the most common type of cancer. It originates from epithellial cells. Based on the cells' origins, there are other types of cancers, such as sarcoma and leukemia.

Despite the difference, these two terms sometimes are used interchangeably in literatures. We record the term whichever is used in the paper.

7.Why I couldn't find some published miRNA-Cancer relation in miRCancer?
miRCancer adopts to automated data collection process. The system provides estimated 78.5% recall rate. You are very welcome to contact us to point out the missing or incorrect data, and we will accomodate the change.

8.What's the benefit to subscribe to miRCancer mailing list?
Subscribers will be informed about any updates about the miRCancer research project, including:
· database update
· new analysis tool
· new publication
· new research direction

9.How do I subscribe to miRCancer mailing list?

Option 1

· Address an email to listserv@listserv.ecu.edu
· No subject or signature file.
· Type the message: SUBSCRIBE MIRCANCER-L Firstname Lastname.
· Replace Firstname and Lastname with your name.
· Send the e-mail.
· A confirmation email will send to your email address shortly. Please follow the link in the email to confirm your email address.
· Another email confirming your subscription will be sent to you upon successful subscription.

Option 2

If you have an email client configured, such as outlook, you can subscribe to the mailing list by click on this link and fill the form in option 2.

If you still facing any problem, please contact Boya Xie at boya.xie@alumni.ecu.edu or Dr. Ding at dingq@ecu.edu

10.Can I unsubscribe to miRCancer mailing list?
Yes, you can unsubscribe to miRCancer mailing list by send an empty email to MIRCANCER-L-signoff-request@LISTSERV.ECU.EDU. A confirmation email will send to you to notify the unsubscription.

11.Do you plan to provide more sequence analysis tools?
Maybe. If you would like to see more sequence analysis tools here, please kindly email us your suggestions.